The former WWE manager opens up on why his pairing with Del Rio flopped from the get-go.

Alberto Del Rio’s return last year at Hell In A Cell was not the only return. Zeb Colter had returned to television after an extended absence. However, the pairing of the two was indeed very odd as they were bitter rivals in past storylines. The “MexAmerica” angle never clicked, and the tremendous wave of momentum that Del Rio had upon his return all vanished. He then moved on to The League Of Nations, and his second WWE run turned out to be an utter failure after that.

His former manager Zeb Colter in an interview with Sports Illustrated explained why exactly their pairing failed to click:

"WWE failed to take into account that it didn’t make a lot of sense. Remember, I hated Alberto Del Rio, and he hated me. So, all of a sudden, I disappeared and came back. But it’s not necessarily the first step in wrestling that is the most important because it’s the second step that identifies and clarifies the first one.

“That’s what we didn’t do. There was no chemistry, but there was also no logical explanation as to why I would be with Alberto. I said to the guys in the back, ‘I’m not getting the story,’ but people kept saying, ‘Just wait.’ I’ve walked on enough wrestling floors, and I know if a crowd isn’t getting a certain vibe. The chemistry wasn’t there with me and Alberto.”

Colter then said that he wanted to realign with Jack Swagger:

“I suggested that I get back with Jack. What I really wanted to say during my return was, ‘When I was away, I realized that, instead of building walls, we should be building bridges. Instead of hating on people, I should be loving people.’ That was the build-up, but then we’d find out that, while I was away, I was really having a s— fit about every son of a b—- who f—– me over, and Alberto was one of them.

“So my plan was to convince Alberto to let Jack join us, and then we’d do the big turn at the end, and that would have helped everybody. They didn’t see it that way, and Del Rio wanted to stay a heel. So I worked six weeks with Alberto, then they went their way and I went mine.”

Colter was a booker for World Wrestling Council(WWC), the International Wrestling Association(IWA) and TNA. It is surprising WWE never considered his pitch given his experience.